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Masami Kugimiya
Background According to the anime Ballroom e youkoso's official website Kugimiya Masami is one of the main characters,Tatara Fujita's rivals, and occasional training partners. His style of dancing can be described as elegant, strict, "traditional" or old fashioned, and has "beauty" in it. He was unfortunately stuck to basics because of Kunieda Tadashi, the self-seeking man who introduced him to dancing, which destroyed his career as a dancer. Masami is a strong leader in spite of being rude to his follower. He's a pessimist containing a weak heart, and hides an insecure, anxious, sensitive, overthinking, and short tempered personality behind his calm and contained persona. He trains under Marisa Hyoudou ever since he had his spine injury. Masami's dancing partner is Tamie Idogawa. Chinatsu Hiyama stated that Kugimiya's dancing suits are "homeland import, London or something". He's "fancy" when it comes to suits, which are "sharp", "cool", and suits his physique. Kugimiya stated that since he was young, he danced better when things are messy/tousled (moja moja, Japanese term for messy/shaggy hair). Story Masami underwent an unpleasant childhood. His parents dissed him about his grades and compared him to his two elder brothers all the time. They neglected him and unaccepted him as their child. His teacher noticed that he was never attentive in class, in comparison to his brothers who were talented and successful, and wondered whether his parents payed much attention to their youngest son. Because his parents thought him a failure useless kid, Masami grew up insecure, shy, and lonely. He even carried a bad habit of not making eye contact with people specially when they speak. Whenever he met his brothers, Masami felt oppressed and unaccepted. He avoided meeting them in Vol.10 Chapter 42 following a black stray cat with a twisted tail, which he thought funny, or interesting. He was a curious person since he was a child. Following the cat represented Masami's both loneliness and childlike behavior, and that despite of his lifestyle, he was a loving and caring boy. The cat led him to a dancing studio owned by an old man, Kunieda Tadashi, the old man who has changed Masami's life since the first time they've met, and saved him from his drowning into nothingness. When the man invited him to in, Masami neither greeted nor talked to anyone. He even refused to go back home, which the old man thought troubling. The old man asked him to stand straight for he hated to see kids with bad posture, and that was when Masami's eyes first met with the stranger. The grandpa patted his head, and with a gentle smile asked for his name. Masami's eyes brightened with happiness. It was the first time someone was so nice to him, interested in him, and pleased to meet him. Masami replied with a stutter, but gratefully. Masami asked the man about a photo hanged on the wall that day, and when the man replied that it was the younger him in a dancing competition in England, Masami asked if he could also travel to England one day, and that was when he was first introduced to the realm of ballroom dancing. Masami's family noticed the difference in him ever since. He was more cheerful. The moment they asked him why or what happened at lunch time, they cut him off claiming that it was "not important" and that he should "keep quite". Unlike the old man's praising to Masami, his family found neither point nor use of him. Because he was different, they thought him untalented and shame to the Kugimiya family. In Masami's first year of dancing, he hesitated in his first competition, overwhelmed by anxiety and fear of the failure his family engraved in his head to believe, he could not pull his self together until he saw the old man there encouraging him and smiling warmly. "I'll make the scary things invisible", he thought since then. Everything unpleasant was noise, that was Masami's own way to help him succeed. The old man thought him very special, and that he was actually a fast learner. His rivals and peers, who've been dancing their whole lives, were beat by a first year dancer. His parents never came to watch his performances, but the old man was enough support to Masami. In his third year, the dancing team at the old man's studio realized Masami's learning speed was going too fast that they did not know what to teach him anymore. And since they discovered his love for children, and that he was better than those teaching the kids how to dance at the studio, they allowed him to stay as a teacher. Suffering from being neglected by his parents as a little boy, Masami grew a special love for children. He knew how it felt to be unaccepted, so to him, for a child not to feel love or wanted, he personally knew how it felt and related to it. In his fourth year of dancing, and when he met Sengoku Kaname, Masami overheard a conversation somewhere between the audience complementing Masami's dancing, then claiming that he however had a hopeless coach, which he's got upset about unknowingly but ignored. He thought the audience a bunch of ignorant people who knew nothing of dancing. In his seventh year, when he met Hyoudo Kiyoharu, he, yet again, overheard some people in the audience -which he hated so much at this point- speaking about how Hyoudou was the "real deal". Annoyed, Masami mumbled frightening comments against them within himself hatefully, for they have judged Hyoudou according to only looks. Due to the dark childhood he lived, Masami contained a dark side as a left over within him and behind the gentleman he has become. Around that time, Masami was looking for a new partner, and he was introduced to Tamie Idogawa. Masami's life at home was still the same as it was before, just a bit more dull and agonizing. His parents threatened to do something about his dancing before it's "too late" because his grades were hopeless. "If I stay here any longer, I'll go crazy", he stated to himself. Masami felt so lonely he called a cat his "only ally". In Vol.10 Chapter.44, he was shown a sad and depressed character who forced himself to wear a friendly and smiley mask in front of his team at the studio. In Masami's tenth year, training in a camp with the other top dancers and away from his coach and teammates, Masami appeared to be the shy, aloof, and nervous character he used to be as a kid again, while the other dancers including Sengoku were friendly and surrounded by one another, and loud. In Mikasa cup finals, and while performing Quick Step, Masami's vision of the "noise" excluded Sengoku while competing. Overwhelmed by the fear that over took him, he felt vulnerable and broke down throwing up at break time. Overhearing some people from the bathroom stall wondering why Masami seemed a bit off, he wondered what was it he was even doing in that place from the start, on the edge of giving up. He thought he was fooling himself with fake happiness since he met the old man, which ended him up in the realm of dancing thinking the path was wrong from the beginning. When it was almost Masami's birthday, and when he went back to the dancing studio, he started to show his indifference inattentively now, moreover with a slight disgust towards the old man who brought him to this sort of life. He lacked the energy and enthusiasm for both dancing and teaching all together, and told himself that he was being killed by his self-consciousness, and not only thought to quit dancing -which he thought he would never be able to explain why to anyone- but also his pointless life as a whole. Masami appeared to go meet the cat later, "his only ally", but no sooner has he reached he took his leave hurriedly after the sight of it mating with another cat, feeling betrayed by his ally or perhaps lonely at the fact that even a cat has found itself a partner. He has a special relationship with cats. Pitiful as it is, he walked down the street with a cigarette in his mouth (which psychologically corresponded with his state of mind) and added to himself that he hasn't even got the courage to kill himself, and wondered if there's anyone who would kill him. He thought his own sayings of not having courage to kill himself was a lie, an excuse to stay alive perhaps. Not too long after, he was struck by a truck while crossing the street, by which he smirked at and thought that God really did exist and granted his wish, however found himself alive when he opened his eyes later, thinking that he was cursed. Masami cried the moment he opened his eyes, because he was still alive in his ominous life. He called the doctor and his nurses "demons". They thought him crying happy tears. Days later, and when the old man payed him a visit at the hospital, Masami claimed that it was shame he can't dance anymore after the accident. However, the old man sternly responded that he knew it wasn't because of the injury he wanted to quit, adding that he himself lied about being a true dancer, and felt ever so regretful and shameful to the point of weeping. Traumatized, Masami battered the bed several times, and started sobbing in disbelief. His dancing partner told him later in her visit that the dancing studio he cherished so much was closed. After few weeks of healing, in a rainy night on the white bed, Masami's weight started to visibly fade. He looked withered and tired both physically and mentally, looking like a living dead. He's even developed anger and lost his temper. Annoyed by his long and distressing stay at the hospital and his hopeless life, he broke down and shouted once at the nurse asking her questions like when was he to go out, start rehabilitation, and for how long was he going to be kept. Gladly, his friends were there to stop him and support him that instant. When Marisa Hyoudou visited him few more months later, Masami confronted his feelings for the first time to her and told her that he wished he's never danced. He giggled at every little sentence they exchanged in regard of the judgement of winner and loser in dancing, until he burst with an awkward "I'm sorry" then said that such topics made him want to puke. He trailed his ghastly whimpering with laughs and random thoughts like "What was he fighting against", that the dance he and the old man liked was already dead, and then ended it with "It is hell" as the tears caressed down his cheeks finally as he grinned. "I need to go back there", he concluded, clinging to the one and only excuse for him to live; dancing. The workers at the rehabilitation stated that Kugimiya (Masami) had a fearful expression on his face since he arrived. He was able to walk with the crutch's help soon after. Around this time, Masami's partner used to visit and take care of Masami, pealing some apples and keeping him company (it's obvious that Idogawa liked him, but she was too quite to show it). She asserted that she decided to wait for him to heal instead of finding a new partner, practicing dancing by herself ever since his accident, she stated that her bond with strangers wouldn't be as strong as it was with him. Masami was very protective of his partner in return. When Masami passed by Marisa's place, she invited him in when she saw him. He sat down watching a live recording of a dancing tournament on her TV, Marisa asked him whether losing in tournaments felt like hell to him or not. When he responded with the same gloomy reply he offered her in the hospital and she cut him off, he thought for a while thoroughly and wholeheartedly after apologizing to her; he admitted that he feels sick when people's eyes watch him dance, and that his eyes go black, and that he loses hope, when he thinks of for how long and far dancing would take him. He added that the world of results is so cruel, and that he felt envious of those dancers with a better fortune to get to the top. Marisa poked his forehead, and told him that those people he envies have "their own personal hell", too, which helped him to get up on his feet again. Marisa watched over Masami since his accident. They developed a close relationship, like a mother and son. After nine years, when he was finally able to dance, Masami's body was still stiff because of his long avoidance of dancing. His muscles has already forgotten what and how dancing was. This was also noted in Chapter.45 when Gaju Akagi was helping Masami with his hamstring stretching, "You're like a teddy bear!" he exclaimed to him brightly which he hushed. Masami and Idogawa's comeback coincided around the same time Tatara Fujita began his journey. They both entered the Novice Tournament, which was the first time for them to compete, with Masami's pair getting first, and Tatara the second. Marisa was there to cheer Masami and his partner (her students), teasing Tatara when her students were busy performing their encore, and by which Tatara decided to visit her in her Hyoudou Social Dance Academy for consult and found her busy coaching Masami's pair. Tatara confessed to Hyoudou that he was interested in how Masami was good at leading and moving his partner,how he had an amazing leading presence, and admitted that Masami's level seemed beyond Novice, high leveled, by which Hyoudou answered him that Masami's pair have joined the Novice Tournament because he had an injury and left the scene for a year. Tatara also mentioned that the pair had a perfect breathing while dancing, and that it was impossible for him to look away, specially from the leader. When Tatara met with Marisa and asked her about Masami, she told him that Masami was an accomplished dancer since his juniors, and despite of his injury and the lower level of his partner, Idogawa, he was doing a straight great job. This was the first time Tatara found out that Masami was rude, which showed how comfortable Masami can be around Idogawa. Marisa then asked Kugimiya to come over to pair up with Tatara since Masami was good at following, too. Masami was obviously bothered, but he accepted later, spinning his towel with his hand. This was the first time they have met in person. When Masami was fixing his shoes, preparing for the dance, Marisa advised him to be a good partner, by which he expressed a polite greeting to Tatara, who thought him way too tall for him to pair up with, but Marisa asked Masami to bend his knees to meet a good height for Tatara being short. Holding their hands together, Tatara mentioned how he needed to widen his steps because Masami had long legs. Starting their dance practice, Masami asked Tatara, who was leading, to do whatever he liked since he was good at following. In the middle of the dance, Masami grabbed Tatara's arm abruptly. Tatara thought it was a response, but Masami told him that he noticed he wasn't reading his own leading. Masami paused the dance bothered, stomping loudly on the ground making his shoe screech the floor, and told Tatara that it's hard to dance to such leading, aggressively, and asked him whether he was trying to follow rather than lead. When Tatara apologized, and mentioned that he didn't understand leading and all he knew was that dancing was something pairs should do together, Masami lost his patience, so he snickered and called him garbage, then asked Marisa to change roles. The moment Marisa consented, Masami switched his hands in such way that Tatara was forced to follow. Leading Tatara's body to slip away swiftly, Tatara thought he would lose his balance, so he grabbed firmly to his leader's arm, but Masami fixed their balance in plank time. When Masami forced his knee into Tatara's pelvis -the same way Chinatsu Hiyama did- creating a Left Whisk figure, Tatara thought that he utterly wasn't able to fight Masami's power of leading because Masami was good at leading his partners. Going on sweating around with the dance, Masami glanced at Hyoudou thoughtfully for a second to either show him how Tatara was bad or to show off his skills, stretching Tatara's spine at him with a Throwaway Over sway creating an alluring frame and breaking out a sensual smirk at him. Bored, Masami dropped Tatara because the boy was "so heavy", which made Tatara blush, then asked Marisa for leave. At the GrandPrix tournament, in the first elimination, Masami thought it strange to see the dance newbies Tatara and Chinatsu competing as his and Idogawa's rivals. He pressed his lips and pouted while dancing, asking the troublesome couple, calling them smudges or pubes (moja moja), to go away, which helped him to regain and fix his spirit showing a smart abrupt routine the audience liked. They claimed the Heat was for Kugimiya to win in the first place, but when Tatara supported Chinatsu's fall later, taking Marisa-sensei's advice into account, the audience cheered the younger couple up, leaving Masami bewildered. He has got his concentration lapsed, thinking a weird thing has got into his eyes. He tried his best to writh Tatara's frame again into smudge crunching his teeth. He succeed to make the audience clap and call his name at the end of the heat, but he left the dance floor pouting and upset anyway. Masami won the second elimination with a sham grin as the audience howled his name. When Marise-sensei invited the four couples to visit her dancing studio for camping in Karuizawa, she went ahead in her car asking Masami to take care of driving Tatara and Chinatsu along with his partner. Masami didn't like the idea and rubbed the back of his neck thinking it bothersome, but he consented anyway out of compliance to the lady, Marisa-sensei. In the silent awkward ride, Masami appeared to be wearing glasses, bored and already exhausted from the long dull drive, threatened Tatara not to fall asleep like the girls behind their seats because he neither liked the idea of being awake by himsellf nor being active driving while the sluggish others were napping restfully. Tatara tried to find a topic to make a conversation with the silent driver; to kill the uncomfortable silence, but Masami was utterly indifferent and didn't care less. He answered the noisy boy pessimistically when he congratulated him for reaching the finals, stating that he couldn't get in the mood and the experience was horrible; a way to express his annoyance and ask Tatara to shut up. When Tatara changed the topic mentioning Idogawa, Masami's partner, thinking it might be the best and closest topic to Masami, the short-tempered man asked what was wrong with 'Banshee' (but it's 'Ochi Mushya' as 'Fallen worrier' in Japanese) defensively (see trivia for 'Banshee' meaning), when Tatara laughed friendly and repeated her nickname Masami was protectively irate that Tatara called Idogawa with such name, almost picking a fight like a yankee closing his face to the young boy's. When Tatara quickly praised Masami's partner to him in terror, "Is that so?" He calmed down instantly and altered his position back to his seat looking ahead where he was supposed to watch. Tatara caught his suffocation and anxiety while Masami was profound in his thought. His face was mournful as if he was downhearted. He cleared his throat then called Tatara faintly, he seemed to be lacking self esteem, Tatara answered delightfully. He told him that while dancing, dancers focus on their own performance, minding their own business, but he continued, hesitatingly, that he on the other hand was strained to see them, or they appeared to him, as 'pubes'. Tatara didn't get that random admission as submission of vulnerability, so he looked at the man with confusion. Masami, frowning, closed the subject with some kind of aversion, then pointed soundlessly to the camp they have finally reached, which Tatara was alerted to look where his index finger pointed. Kugimiya called Tatar's name playfully when they arrived, which showed his ease with the boy he slightly talked to now. In spite of him being gloomy and introverted, Masami was pretty open with the people he trusted. Perhaps because people failed him and betrayed him throughout his life. Masami asked Tatara to do something for him, by which Tatara had a bad feeling about; "weed the yard." Inquisitive and curious as he is, Masami overheard Tatara's discussion with Marisa-sensei who mentioned that the boy should win next time after his either practice or shower -he had a towel around his shoulder- when he walked through the hall. He entered the room like an upset kid reminding the lady that he was also entering the A-rank advancement, notifying her that he'll have a better chance to win, "Isn't it already impossible for Fujita-kun?" He asked eagerly, making Tatara fret. Marisa-sensei used Masami's comment to tease the boy to encourage him. When Tatara insisted that he, too, will enter the Grandprix, she mentioned that with Masami being his opponent it'll be near impossible, With that, Masami was aspired, unknowing what was going on but was overjoyed anyway by her remark, he apologised to Tatara laughing exquisitely in disdain with an unusual big satisfactory kind of grin. In the manga, Volume.7 Chapter 32, Hyoudo asked Tatara to share a room with Masami, which Tatara thought it a nightmare, but Masami delightfully welcomed him in. Next day when they all decided to have a barbecue in the fresh air, Marisa-sensei instructed Masami to "Get some meat on those bones" of him, which rendered her care and watch over him. He was shown eating aloof beside his partner, who was also introverted, at the back.When Tatara and Chinatsu were practising later, Masami was sitting on the sofa at the back, watching crossing his arms, captivated by Marisa's coaching to the younger couple. He and his partner isolated themselves again the next time they had barbecue, undetermined what the two were talking about in the background. Masami appeared to see Tatara as his younger self, which annoyed him the most. In Chapter.44 of the tenth volume, he grabbed Tatara's head fiercely out of the blue, "If it becomes tough, it's okay to stop. Dance makes your life crazy" he told the clueless boy as if he was advising his younger self before cracking an insane chuckle to cover his awkwardness. Trivia - Despite being an athlete, Masami smokes occasionally, especially when he's anxious or stressed. - It seems from the manga that Masami has a red blemish of some sort on his nose. - Masami has two young cousins, or perhaps students (they appeared mostly in the manga) who often come to watch his performances. He loved them so much that he recovered from his leg cramp when he heard them cheering in the Grandpix finals. They loved him to bits in return for being their teacher, and called him Masami-chan, and was their favorite dancer because it was him and he was "calm". They always appear bullying him, dangling around him, or about his neck. They both have their black short hair dyed blond partially, and appear to be around 10 years of their age. They're so high on energy that Masami calls them demons. They also appeared to be wearing fox costumes in the manga which illustrates their personality. Masami said that they "mess up his mood" and "put pressure on him" despite loving them. The boys appeared to be bullying Tatara too in Chapter.044: Heat 39. Hyoudo told Tatara that they were "serious delinquents with eyes of murder". Masami pinched one the boys' both cheeks playfully when the sly kid stuck his tongue out to him. - Masami calls his partner "Banshee", which is, in an Irish legend, a female spirit whose wailing/howling warns of a death in a house. In Japanese however, she's "Ochi Mushya" meaning Fallen Worrier. - Masami's age, in order: 5th Grade (10-11), 1st year (11-12), 3rd year (13-14), 4th year (14-15), 7th year (16-17), 10th year (19-20), and his current age in the 12th year (21-22). - Masami has Turquoise/Aqua eyes. Before the accident, his eyes' colour was visible, until it gradually faded out after the accident. - Masami's audience assumed that Masami has a "Matchstick body". - Suffering from being neglected by his parents as a little boy, Masami grew a special love for children. He knew how it felt to be unaccepted, so to him, for a child not to feel love or wanted, he personally knew how it felt and related to it. - Masami looks older in the anime adaptation than he is from the manga where he also appeared more. - Masami appeared to be uninterested in up to date technology and social media disorder; he wasn't sure what was he doing snapping a vertical and blurry picture of Chinatsu and Tatara. - Masami works at the old man's studio as a dance teacher to kids. - The two cats Masami encountered when they were mating appear to have formed a family. Four black and white cats were hanging around the studio. - The dark contour below Masami's eyes represents tiredness; a result of the thin layer below the eyes showing the blood vessels. - Before showing Masami's past, there was a scene at the camp where Marisa said to him "What doesn't kill you, make you stronger, right?", she was pointing at his injury from the truck. Masami even shown a stupefied face in response for the bad nostalgia. - Masami stated, "In my best moments, I see others as pubes.", which was an honest explanation to the blackish clumps he sees people as when dancing on stage, making other dancers invisible. - Looking back at Vol.7 Chapter 31, Masami was wearing glasses as he drove the car, and since he's short tempered, he appeared to be driving in such speed that the car's wheels were grinding the cobblestone. - Masami was mocked around by Marisa and Gaju for his weight after his accident. He's always whined about how things are heavy, similarly about Tatara's weight when he danced with him in Vol.6 Chapter.26, and with his partner Idogawa. - Masami calls Gaju Akagi "Gorilla". - When Masami was competing with Tatara in the Grandpix finals, his self esteem appeared to be reduced by his temper, he stated within himself intolerant comments regarding the people who supported him in the hall such as, "Shut up!", "Don't look at me!", and "Don't flash at me!!" - Marisa seems to have a mother relationship with Kugimiya, not only she advise him to eat more, but also makes sure he's mentally fine "Don't get tripped up, okay?" she told him after her joke about Tatara being cuter than him at the camp. He always nags her with curious question like a kid, or a little boy, which shows how he hasn't lived his childhood satisfyingly, he's therefore carried a child locked in him, which was probably the reason why he was good dealing with children. - Masami has a thing for cleanness and being in good looks. He was shown in the manga fixing his shirt or belt after dancing. Aside from his sense of fashion, he appeared to clean the car in the Camp chapter, also calling his opponents "pubes" marks his disgust to pubic hair. Appearance Masami is a gentleman with an elegant height. His eyes are turquoise in colour. He still styles his black hair the same way he used to as a child, similar to his other two brothers' too; wavy, long bangs, short at the top, and shaved on the sides and back. He tends to pull it all backwards, or pull only one side of it depending on occasion, but lets it down to his face when he's indoors. He wears graceful fancy homeland imported suits, usually with suspenders, and Derby or Oxford shoes of some sort professionally, but tasteful and fashionable in his day to day life; scarfs, boots, cloaks, ragged or ripped skinny jeans, necklaces, fur collared jackets, high-necks, long sleeved shirts, etc. Nomenclature 方美 Masami ( Righteous Beauty) 釘宮 Kugimiya ( Nail or Tack Shrine ) Category:Male Characters Category:Dancers Category:Characters